"It took the Big Four just five hours and twenty five minutes here in Munich today to dispel the clouds of war and come to an agreement over the partition of Czechoslovakia. There is to be no European war, after all. There is to be peace, and the price of that peace is, roughly, the ceding by Czechoslovakia of the Sudeten territory to Herr Hitler's Germany. The German Führer gets what he wanted, only he has to wait a little longer for it. Not much longer though — only ten days. . . ." Source: William Shirer, recording of CBS radio report from Prague, September 29, 1938 notes

Answer 1

This quote is from a radio report by William Shirer, a journalist for CBS, on September 29, 1938. Shirer is reporting from Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia, during the Munich Conference. The Munich Conference was a meeting between the leaders of Germany, Britain, France, and Italy to negotiate the fate of Czechoslovakia and the Sudetenland, a region with a significant German population.

According to Shirer, the Big Four (Germany, Britain, France, and Italy) reached an agreement in just five hours and twenty-five minutes, dispelling the possibility of a European war. The agreement entails Czechoslovakia ceding the Sudeten territory to Hitler's Germany. Although Hitler gets what he wants, he is required to wait for the transfer for ten more days.

This report highlights the Munich Agreement, which symbolized the policy of appeasement pursued by Britain and France towards Hitler's territorial ambitions. By sacrificing Czechoslovakia, these countries hoped to avoid war and maintain peace in Europe. However, history has shown that this strategy ultimately failed, as Hitler's aggression continued and eventually led to the outbreak of World War II.